The Lonely Destined
by Hahn
Summary: Summary: An alternate Season 3 story about a very different kind of Destined. Fourth chapter is up at last.
1. The Bitter One

Title: Lonely Destined  
  
Chapter 1: The Bitter One  
  
Author: Hahn  
  
Summary: An alternate Season 3 story about a very different kind of Destined.  
  
Notes: I haven't written anything except IronWings for a LONG time, so I'm a little rusty... Hopefully this doesn't suck too bad...  
  
Disclaimer: Do I have to? Okay, it's not mine and never will be except in my dreams. There. I did it.  
  
*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*  
  
She stood there, confidently, facing the shadows in front of her. Four Ultimates and a Mega, any one of which could easily take down a Digimon twice it's size. Just her, against them. And she stood there, calmly humming "If I Survive", the theme song to the game Kinetica. She could almost see the tension in the air. She pulled out her D-Arc and a Digi-Modify card. Striking a quick pose, she charged at the Digimon, singing out loud the last words of the song:  
  
"But I swear your going down if I surviiiiiiiive!!!"  
  
--------------------  
  
You know one. I know one. There's one in every school, from elementary to high school. You know. THAT girl. She get's straight A's, perfect marks, and yet, she's always... in the background, so to speak. She doesn't talk to anyone unless she's spoken to, and when she talks, she's always so bitter, never caring about anyone. Well, at Odaiba Junior High, Marian Hope was that girl. She never got in trouble, or got anything but straight A's, but only because she was expected to. She was bitter to anyone and everyone she talked to. She was always sullenly walking around, brooding.  
  
Everyone had there theories. They said, "Her mom hated her," "Her dad must have been a drunk," and things like that. She had had friends once. She could remember them. Barely. But something always happened to those who got to close to her. Some had gotten arested for drug abuse, some died in car crashes, some got themselves shot, some were locked up for crimes she wasn't even sure actually existed. Over time, she had just... givin up.  
  
She knew what the problem was. She was cursed. The proof was right on her. She looked angrily at her arm, at the black mark on her arm. A circle, with another circle inside it and another in that and another in that. The one in the center had a cross through it. The next on out had lines that, had they lined up with the cross, would have made it bigger. And the next one out had similar lines, also incorectly aligned. And the outer one had smilar, misaligned lines. She knew what the symbol meant, had known from the moment of her birth what it meant. Despair. She couldn't help thinking that if she could just shift those lines, just complete the cross, maybe things would be alright. But she couldn't. So, she simply gave up.  
  
There had been a time when she had started to recover, to pull herself out of the pit. That had been when she had met... him. His name was Marcus Fate. Like her, he had a curse. It haunted him like it did her. His symbol was a circular maze he said meant confusion. By his side, she had become happy again. She stopped being bitter. He brought out the best in her. Everyone said they were the perfect couple. Fate and Hope. Almost like it was destiny.  
  
Then... it happened. It had seemed like a normal day. She headed to his apartment to chat with him. She knocked on his door. There was no answer. She waited. She figured he was probably just playing his PlayStation 2 and had the volume up to high, as happened sometimes. She tried to go in, but the door wouldn't open. She started to get worried. He never locked his door. Never. She tried to force the door, but it wouldn't open. She heard sounds from inside, saw flashes of light under the door. She banged on the door, but it wouln't open. Finally, there was a blast of energy, and the door blew off it's hinges, flying forward and pining her against the opposite wall. Coughing, she slipped out from under the door and ran into the apartment, calling Marcus' name. She foud him on the floor. She started. He was white. Very white. As she watched, his body seemed to shift, like it were made of billions of little squares, and whatever was holding them toghether wasn't doing a very  
good job of it. She reached for him, and he simply broke apart, like a bowling ball had scattered the squares. The little pieces swirled around her once then flew out the window, with her calling his name the entire time. Finally she collapsed on the floor and cried.  
  
After that, the old, bitter, Marian returned. The police searched for Marcus, but never found him, and eventually they gave up. And Marian continued to sink farther and farther into the pit of despair. Untill, one day, Her life was changed forever...  
  
End Notes: Ohhh... A cliffhanger!!! Don't cha love 'em? *Dodges large object thrown at him by angry people* Okay, I guess not... Gotta go! *Runs* 


	2. The Song

Title: Lonely Destined

Chapter 2: The Song

Author: Hahn

Summary: An alternate Season 3 story about a very different kind of Destined. The second chapter is up! Hope you like it!

Notes: I finally decided to write the next chapter. Mainly because of the review I got from Darth Flirt. Okay, Darth. I'll make you a deal. I'll continue this, BUT you have too continue Diary of a Digidestined! Deal? Okay! Oh, and I apologize for any and all spelling errors. I don't have a spell checker at the house where I'm writing this.

Disclaimer: Do I have to? Okay, Digimon is not mine and never will be except in my dreams. There. I did it. Oh, and I don't own "Kids of America" by Yellow Spring Life, either.

*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*

There was dancing, strobe lights, great music, and more. Everyone was having a blast. It was the biggest party of the year. And she didn't care. She stood around, only there because everyone else was. As usual, she was seemingly eternally depressed. It wasn't that she couldn't dance. She was an excellent dancer. And there was no lack of people wanting to dance with her. She was by no means an ugly girl. 13 years old, she stood 5' 5", with a slim, agile figure that would make many boys drool (at least those who didn't know her). Her blond hair was slightly longer then shoulder length, and complemented her blue eyes nicely. She wore blue jeans and a bright green tank top with a yellow star in the center of it. She could have asked any guy there to dance and he would have agreed right away. She simply didn't **want** to dance. So, she simply stood, leaning against the wall, head down, hands in pockets.

She didn't even look up when a girl aproached her. "Hey, Marian, why don't you go up there and sing? I remember you used to be a great singer, back before-" The girl caught herself. "I mean, earlier this year." Marian knew the girl was about to say "before Marcus disappeared." She recognized the girl by her voice. Her name was Natalie. She was one of the most popular girls in the school. As Marcus had once put it, she'd "slept with the football team". The memory almost made her smile. Almost. Marian ignored the girl.

Natalie persisted. "C'mon, your a good singer. I wanna hear you sing again!"

A few of her friends joined in. "Yeah, we wanna hear you sing!"

Marian shrugged. "Fine." She didn't really care. What did it matter? Nothing mattered anymore. _Aw, what the hell_, she thought, _I might as well enjoy this. It's been a while since I've enjoyed anything._ She picked up her dark blue backpack, opening the front zipper, and pulling out a few messy pieces of sheet music. It was a song she and Marcus had written, called Kids of America. She waited 'till the person already on stage was done singing, then walked up onto the stage, passing out the music to the band. The band was called 'The SpeedReaders" because of their legendary ability to look at a piece of music for the first time, and be ready to play it perfectly five minutes later. Marian waited a moment while the band got ready and played a few experimental notes, then turned back to the audience. The place neared total silence as people noticed she was standing on the stage. Marian looked out at the audience. She held up the microphone, then counted off on her fingers and out loud. "A one, a two, a one-two-three-four!" The band lauched into a fast, bouncy tune. Marian waited a little while, swaying her hips to the beat, waiting for her entrance. Finally it was nearing. She focused, trying to pretend it was Marcus on the drums, and her other former friends on the other instruments, like it had been back... before. Wiping away a tear that had snuck up on her, she counted off quietly to herself. "A one, a two, a one-two-three-four."

_Looking out a dirty old window  
Down below the cars in the  
City go rushing by  
I sit here alone  
And I wonder why_

Friday night and everyone's moving  
I can fell the heat  
But it's shooting  
Heading down  
I search for the beat in this dirty town

Down town the young ones are going  
Down town the young ones are growing

We're the kids in America  
We're the kids in America  
Everybody live for the music-go-round

Bright lights the music gets faster  
Look boy, don't check on your watch  
Not another glance  
I'm not leaving now, honey not a chance

Hot-shot, give me no problems  
Much later baby you'll be saying never mind  
You know life is cruel, life is never kind

Kind hearts don't make a new story  
Kind hearts don't grab any glory

We're the kids in America  
We're the kids in America  
Everybody live for the music-go-round

Come closer, honey that's better  
Got to get a brand new experience  
Feeling right  
Oh don't try to stop baby  
Hold me tight

Outside a new day is dawning  
Outside Sububia's sprawling everywhere  
I don't want to go baby  
New York to East California  
There's a new wave coming I warn you

We're the kids in America  
We're the kids in America  
Everybody live for the music-go-round

We're the kids  
We're the kids  
We're the kids in America

We're the kids  
We're the kids  
We're the kids in America

We're the kids  
We're the kids  
We're the kids in America

The music continued for a while after she finished, then ended in a cool drumset solo. The crowd, which had been silent throughout the whole song, broke out in an enormous cheer. Marian surprised herself by smiling. She realized she **had** had a good time, for the first time in a long while. She smiled and bowed to the croud, then decended the stage, recieving hearty pats on the back from Natalie and her friends. Right then and there, she made herself a vow. No matter what happened, whatever cards life dealt her, she would try to face it with a smile. Little did she know how had a promise that would be to keep...

End Notes: *gasp* Another cliffhanger? Oh no... I was going to make this longer, but It's late, and I'm tired, so I'm just gonna post this for now.


	3. The Curse

Title: Lonely Destined  
  
Chapter 3: The Curse  
  
Author: Hahn  
  
Summary: An alternate Season 3 story about a very different kind of Destined. The third chapter is finnaly here.  
  
Notes: Wow. It's been a while. I haven't written anything here for a long time... Well, better late then never, they say. Hope you like.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Don't use my stuff without asking. Blah blah blah. (This carries over for all future chapters, just so I don't have to write it.  
  
*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*-*~*  
  
By the next day, two of Natalie's best friends had been arrested for being drunk at the party. Both seemed sober, and, Marian judged from her past experience, probably were. They just met the wrong girl, at the wrong time.  
  
Marian sighed. She had actually started to think the curse had gone away, or was just something she had imagined. She had explained the curse to Natalie. "Curse? Ha! I'm not scared of any 'curse'!", Natalie had said. And, strangely enough, Natalie and Marian had remained sorta-friends the entire dance, and nothng bad had happened. Marian was actually starting to slightly ease up around the girl, somewhat prissy though she was.  
  
During lunch, Natalie found Marian leaning against the wall in a deserted corner of the school.  
  
"What are you doing way out here?" she asked.  
  
"I always come here. There aren't any people," was Marian's rather flippant reply.  
  
"Oh, what's the fun without any people? That's just boring."  
  
"You wouldn't understand," Marian sighed. "I... I just don't like being around people. Makes me nervous."  
  
"Nervous? Why? What's so unnerving about people?"  
  
"I... I might..." Marian stopped, struggling for the right words.  
  
"What? Might put your 'curse' on them? Ooh, the big bad scary curse is gonna *get* me! Ooooh!" As she spoke, Natalie made overly dramatic gestures that almost would have made Marian smile, if she weren't so frustrated.  
  
"Shut up, okay? Just SHUT UP!" Marian shouted, surprising herself.  
  
Natalie instantly backed off. "I'm sorry. I didn't realise that... I mean..."  
  
Marian found herself sighing again. "I know, I understand you. I just wish you'd believe me." Before Natalie could answer, the bell rang, and Marian rushed off to class.  
  
--------------------  
  
The next day, Natalie was nowhere to be found. Marian, surprising herself with her courage, asked a few people were she was. No-one seemed to know. She still hadn't seen her at all when school got out. A little sad, but not really surprised, Marian walked home.  
  
She lived about a three-quarters of a mile from school, so it wasn't exactly a short walk. However, she was used to it, so it didn't really matter. In fact, she was so used to it, that she didn't even have to look where she was going. Unless, of course, someone stepped in front of her.  
  
Marian never saw the boy in the tuxedo until she ran into him. Both stumbled, and she heard something hit the ground. She looked up, already muttering an apology, and stopped. The boy, who had walked by, apparently taking no notice of her, seemed around her age. He also had dark brown hair, partly covered by a top hat. Other then that, Marian couldn't tell, however, because the front of his face was covered with a white mask. The mask had large red marks to imply eyes and a mouth, however it had no apparent eye or mouth holes, and was, other then being slightly rounded to fit the boys face, totally flat and featureless. Marian wandered for a moment how the boy saw where he was going under the mask. Then again, maybe that's why he hit her. By the time she had finished this thought, he was gone, dissapearing into the crowd of people behind her.  
  
Marian turned to continue, and again nearly tripped, this time over something on the ground. She looked down, and saw a strange, plastic device, which the boy must have dropped. I looked similar to a PDA, but was thicker, and shaped to fit into the palm of someone's hand. She bent down and picked it up, intenting to return it to the boy. However, the moment she touched it, she knew, somehow knew, against all reason, that the strange device belonged to her. She also knew it's name. It was called a D-Ark. Underneath the D-Ark was something else.  
  
"Digimon cards???" Sure enough, the cards were from the Trading Card Game/TV series. An Angemon, and a Hyper Wing. For some reason, Marian felt she should take them with her. So, pocketing the items, Marian headed home.  
  
--------------------  
  
It wasn't that Marian mom was mean, or didn't care about her. She was very nice, very concerned about Marian, and very helpful. In the same way the the girl behind the counter at the bank is very nice, very concerned about you, and very helpful. It was a distant, impersonal relashionship. It had been ever since Marian's dad had died. She and her dad had been very close. He had been very fun to be around, always patient, always willing to repeat a lesson to be sure Marian learned it. Then, he had died in a subway accident. To this day, Marian blamed herself for his death; blamed her curse, that is. Ever since then, she had made sure to not get too close to her mom. The impersonal relationship had been mostly her doing, although her mom had certainly not complained much. Really, the two rarely saw eachother. Her mom worked a lot.  
  
So, it came as little surprise that the house was empty when Marian got home. Marian headded up to her room, then flopped down on her bed, planning to sleep. On a second thought, she took out the D-Ark and cards she had found, and examined them. The D-Ark seemed to be broken, or turned off, at least. Marian couldn't make it do anything. Still, she was somehow loathe to throw it away. She fell asleep staring at the strange object.  
  
--------------------  
  
The next day, the third after the dance, Marian learned what had happened to Natalie. She had been arrested, and jailed (apparently without a trial, judging on how much time had gone by), for possesion of coccaine on school grounds. She was currently in Odaiba County Juvenal Hall. Marian rushed there immediately after school.  
  
By some twist of fate, Marian was able to talk her way into being allowed to see Natalie in her cell. Natalie, despite only having been there less then two days, looked horrible. She was laying mostly on the floor, her head and part of her torso leaning against her bed. Her eyes had dark circles under them, she was bruised in places, and parts of her clothing was torn. "Marian...?" she asked weakly, looking up. "Is that you?"  
  
Marian looked down in horror at her friend. "I'm sorry, Natalie... I'm so sorry..."  
  
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Marian... I... hope you'll forgive me for that..."  
  
Marian crouched down to look at Natalie from eye level. "A thousand tijmes over..."  
  
"That's good, at least..."  
  
"Natalie, what happened? How'd you get here?"  
  
"I dunno, really. It's all... kind of a blur." Natalie pulled herself up, suddenly getting an intense look in her eyes. "I didn't do it, though, Marian. I swear to God I didn't do it. You believe me, right?"  
  
Marian nodded fiercely. "I believe you."  
  
Natalie let herself sink back down. "Thanks... You're the only one, I guess. Even my parents seem to have turned against me, overnight..."  
  
Marian sighed again. "Natalie... What happened to you? You're a total mess... Even more so then being in jail should cause..."  
  
Natalie looked up again, looked Marain straight in the eyes with a haunted look Marian would never forget. "They... they put me here... With all the older boys... They don't care. They don't watch the prisoners... They just... They look away, while... While..." A single tear slid down Marian's eye, the first she had shed in a long time.  
  
At that point, she no longer felt pity for herself. She felt only a burning rage, a need to strike back, to fight against whatever had caused this curse. Natalie sunk back down, blissfully asleep, and the gaurd came to get Marian.  
  
--------------------  
  
Marain stood outside the prison in the rain, her right hand clenched around the D-Ark. Her blue-green eyes stared skyward, blinking as raindrops hit them. She felt her rage against the curse, herself, and the world as a whole build. Suddenly, a white light surrounded Marian, and consiousness left her. 


	4. DigiModify?

Title: Lonely Destined  
  
Chapter 4: Digi-Modify?  
  
Author: Hahn  
  
Summary: An alternate Season 3 story about a very different kind of Destined. Well, here's chapter four. The action starts at last.  
  
Notes: Well, time for me to do my sporatic "write a story or two then disappear for another month" thing... Still, I hope someone, at least, reads this...  
  
---------------  
  
I'm alive, was her first thought, followed closely by I'm awake, and I'm in one piece. None of this really surprised her; bad things rarely happened to her. It was part of the curse.  
  
It took her several seconds to even think of checking out her surroundings. She was in the middle of a grassy field, near a sudden cliff, with small trees and bushes dotting the landscape, a forest nearby. This certainly wasn't Kansas. Or Odaiba, for that matter. Climbing to her feet and brushing herself off, Marian rubbed her forehead as a sudden, but thankfully short-lived headache came pounding along. Shrugging it off, she steadied herself on her feet, and continued to visually explore her surroundings.  
  
A sudden rumbling in her gut warned her what her most immediate need might be. She was, apparently, lost in the unknown wilderness with nothing but the clothes she was wearing, a couple digimon cards in her card belt, and her beeping D-Ark.  
  
Wait a minute. Card belt? Beeping D-Ark? Sure enough, on a quick re-examination, Marian was now wearing a leather belt with a couple pouches for digimon cards, one of which contained the two she had. Also clipped onto this pouch was her D-Ark, now active and fully functional. Except that she had heard that digivices, as she guessed this must be, were supposed to point to ones Digimon. This one didn't even seem to have support for a Digimon, which was strange, considering the nature of the device. It did, however, have a red, blinking dot that wasn't here, but seemed to be approaching her. Right over...  
  
There. From out of the bushes, a silver, robotic creature slowly padded. Instantly, the D-Ark brought up data on it.  
  
"Mechanorimon. Robot Digimon. Mechanori are simple Digimon that follow their programming exactly, and so make excellent servants. Their Twin Beam attack is not very accurate, but fires two powerful laser bursts." After this quick verbal explanation, the picture on the Digivice changed to a picture of the Mechanorimon Digimon card.  
  
"Now why would that be neccisary information?" Marian wondered aloud. She hadn't known that the Digital World, as this must be, even 'knew' of the existence of the card game. Of course, truth be told, ten minutes ago she hadn't believed the place existed, so maybe she wasn't the best to make judgements.  
  
All of a sudden, the robotic Digimon turned to face her. Apparently, although her comment had been much quieter then the Digivice's description, the creature had heard her and not the Digivice. "Figures. Well, let's just hope he's programmed to be friendly and helpful..." Looking around, Marian couldn't see any weapons to fall back on if he wasn't, so she crossed her fingers.  
  
"Welcome, Digidestined, to the Digital World. I have been sent to greet you and..." In the middle of this rather comforting speech, the Mechanorimon simply froze. It twitched slightly, then spoke again, in a much harsher tone. "ERROR. ERROR. SYSTEM ERROR ENOUNTERED. SYSTEM GLITCH DETECTED; UNABLE TO BYPASS. NEW MISSION DATA: ELLIMINATE SYSTEM GLITCH." About to stand back, in the hopes of letting it go about it's business of fixing itself, Marian was rather startled when it stepped towards her and raised its hands, forming a red ball between them. "Twin Beam," spoke the monotonous voice, and the ball split and shot out as two ruby beams of light, which impacted the ground inches from Marian, blew small holes in the grassy field, and sent her running for dear life away from the crazed Digimon.  
  
"I thought it said it had an internal error! Why is it attacking me?"  
  
As if answering her question, the robot spoke again. "DESTROY SYSTEM GLITCH," was quickly followed by another horribly inaccurate, but still terrifying, Twin Beam, and then another.  
  
"What do you mean, 'System glitch'? I'm not a glitch, I'm a person! You said yourself I was a Digidestined!" By now, her flight had carried her dangerously close to the edge of the cliff.  
  
"FATAL ERROR, UNABLE TO BYPASS. GLITCH MUST BE DESTROYED. Twin Beam." This time, however inaccurate, the shots were luckily placed on each side of Marian, forcing her backwards toward the cliff's edge.  
  
"Oh great. Just like in the movies. If there's a cliff, the hero always has to knocked off of- Aaah!" By this point, the Mechanorimon had supplied the action for her words, landing another shot right at her feet, flinging her back off the edge of the tall cliff, and spiraling dazed toward the ground far below. Recovering, Marian could do nothing but scream, and watch as her life flashed across her eyes. She screamed so loud, in fact, that she only barely heard the voice.  
  
"Use your D-Ark," it said. Calming slighty, though not much, Marian shot back, "Why? I don't even have a Digimon!" Without any apparent change in tone or volume, the strangely familiar, yet at the same time scary, voice spoke again. "Use your D-Ark. All will become clear." Realizing she had no choice, Marian let her instincts take over, and, still falling, managed to grab her D-Ark, and one of the cards. Thinking back to what little she knew of Digimon, Marian remembered what always came next. Although the motion was difficult while falling, Marian managed a somewhat fancy pose, followed by twisting her arms so the edge of the card rested at the bottom of the D-Ark.  
  
"Digi... MODIFY! Hyper Wing, ACTIVATE!" Sliding the card across the D-Ark, electricity sparkled around her, and raw data filled the air. Her voice echoed rather dramatically, and then the energy coalesced... Around her. The data solidified, and suddenly she had wings, and wasn't falling. With a mere thought, she shot up through the air, back above the clif, and was hovering in the air above the Mechanorimon. While half her mind screamed in terror, the other half was thouroughly convinced that what just happened was the coolest thing to ever happen to anyone, anywhere.  
  
Her minds came to an agreement just in time for her to dodge another Twin Beam. Well, half a Twin Beam, anyway, as the other shot had possessed the usual, horrible inaccuracy. Thinking back to the TV show, and getting into the 'mood', Marian looked down at the Digimon. "You are seriously going to regret that buddy. Now, let's try this on for size!" Snatching her other card, she posed yet again, and, mentally replaying the "Digi-modify" music to herself, slid it.  
  
"Digi... MODIFY! Angemon's Angel Rod, ACTIVATE!" Again, the card became a cloud of data. Again, the data formed into a shape. This time, it was a white staff with golden, runic carvings. All of the sudden, the staff felt as much part of her as the wings. She easily deflected the next Twin beam, then focused her energy on the staff, which began to glow. "You can throw..." The staff completely absorbed itself into her hand, forming a bright golden glow around it. "But can you catch!? Hand of Fate!" Throwing a punch into the air, Marian sent a powerful beam of white-gold energy down and entirely through the Mechanorimon, which disintergrated into data moments later.  
  
Breathing heavily, Marian dropped to the ground, and her wings disapated. As they did, her two cards re-formed in her card holder. The data from the fallen digimon floated into the air, the began to swirl and form together into something solid. When it finished, a Mechanorimon card floated to the ground. As she picked up the card, Marian realised that it must have been what the D-Ark was referring to with the picture at the end of the description.  
  
Wondering briefly if that was how she was going to get all her cards from now on during this strange adventure, Marian pocketed the card, and, picking a direction randomly, headed toward the forest.  
  
End Notes: Hey, no cliffhanger this time. Anyway, what do you think? Please review and let me know, k? Please? :) 


	5. System Bugs

Title: Lonely Destined  
  
Chapter 4: System Bugs  
  
Author: Hahn  
  
Summary: Chapter five is here! Lots more action in this chapter...  
  
Notes: Wow! Two submissions, almost right after eachother! It's amazing, I know...  
  
---------------  
  
Marian still hadn't been able to shake it. This whole thing felt so... surreal. Not like a dream exactly, but like she was just watching herself go through with this. Of course, this was a good thing, too; she hadn't quite been able to allow herself to think of things like "am I trapped here?", "am I going to die here?" and "what's going to try to kill me next?", being entirely too preoccupied with "why am I a Digidestined (assuming I really am)", "why do I have no Digimon?", and "why haven't I woken up yet?".  
  
All in all, though, the main thing the surreal feeling did was allow her the freedom to "get in the mood" so to speak. She didn't feel like herself, so she didn't feel the need to act like herself. She could act "cool"; in fact, doing so was seeming to become natural, throwing out a quick wittisism before a fight, or throwing an attack with just a bit of extra flair.  
  
And fights and attacks there were plenty of. Just going through the forest she had run into two Agumon, another Mechanorimon, and a Gearmon, all of which had attacked her on sight. In the end, though, Twin Beam had proved a powerful attack when put to use on her side, and Hand of Fate had been more than enough for the Mechanorimon. So, she added an Agumon, an "Element Align: Fire" (she wasn't quite sure what that did, yet), a Rapid Fire, and a Gearmon to her inventory of cards (though she couldn't see a condition where she'd ever need the Gearmon card; they really were pathetic Digimon).  
  
Those adventures past, Marian had left the forest, and was now in another largely bland field on the other side of it. This one, however, had the distinction of having several large, flat metal sheets embedded in the ground for no apparent reason, with grass growing through every crack it could find, so the sheets were nearly invisible until you stepped on one. Having travelled for a while, and finally decided the sheets were safe to walk on, Marian could find no apparent use for them. There did seem to be a lot of robot-type Digimon in the region, well, two Mechanorimon and a Gearmon so far, anyway. Maybe that had something to do with it?  
  
Marian found her line of though rather rudely interrupted by a sudden explosion in front of her, which sent her stumbling back, to finally lack roughly on one of the hard metal sheets. Groaning about the unfairness of it all, Marian glanced around for her attacker, already grabbing a couple cards in the meantime. Quickly, she spotted it, or rather, them: Two Mechanorimon, and a third robot, a humanoid, barrel-like brown robot her Digivice identified as Gaurdromon. It's Grenade Rocket attack had probably caused the explosion.  
  
Sure enough, a second explosive package came flying her way in a moments time. In that moment, however, she had activated her Hyper Wing and skittered out of the way. Reaching down, she grabbed two more cards.  
  
"Digi... MODIFY! Mechanorimon's Twin Beam and... Rapid Fire, ACTIVATE!" Sliding two cards almost at once was a trick Marian had picked up fighting the Mechanorimon. It seemed to work perfectly well, but she wasn't going to push her luck with more then two cards.  
  
As the cards activated, Marian's arms changed into the long, flat, robotic arms of Mechanorimon. As Marian moved the arms about, three faded "shadows" trailed behind, duplicating the real arms' movements. Leaping into the air, Marian let her wings carry her high up, as a Grenade Rocket and several Twin Beams passed below her. Then, raising her arms above her, she flew at the Digimon, readying a Twin Beam of her own. As her real arms moved to form the attack, she shadow arms copied, and, when Marian unleashed her Twin Beam, not two, but eight laser shot fired out in quick succession. The rapid salvo caught the robots unprepared, immediately deleting one of the Mechanorimon, and damaging both other Digimon. Unfortunately, Marian had been overconfidant, counting on the attack to kill or seriously disable all of them, and they were ready to counterattack while she was still trying to come to a stop. The Twin Beams whizzed by with their normal inaccuracy, but the Gaurdromon's aim was dead on.  
  
Surprising even herself with her incredible fast reaction, Marian just barely managed to bring the robotic arms up in front of the attack. Moments later, the force of the explosion hurled her back, and the shaddowy trails disappeared, reforming as a card in her pocket. Marian knew from the battle with the two Agumon that the card would not work again this battle. Strangely, a disabled card seemed to function perfectly well again once the nearby Digimon were cleared out.  
  
Shaking herself, and thanking Lady Luck that the attack had not taken out her wings, Marian circled around the two remaining Digimon, avoiding their attacks and returning Twin Beams of her own. She managed to down the other Mechanorimon, but the Gaurdromon was barely being scratched by her attacks, and his Rockets were getting more and more accurate.  
  
Deciding it was time for a gamble, Marian focused, returning her arms to normal, and grabbed a card out of her belt.  
  
"Digi... MODIFY! Mechanorimon's Twin Beam and... Element Align: Fire, ACTIVATE!" Once again, her arms reformed. However, this time, they were made of red-tinted steel. Quickly and barely dodging another Grenade Rocket, Marian raised her arms, and a small ball of fire formed bwteen her robot hands. "Twin... Beam!" Throwing the attack forward, she was surprised to discover that there was nothing "twin" about it. A single stream of fire shot forward, passing through and destroying one of Gaurdromon's attacks, and carrying on to smash through the armor of the Digimon himself. When the blast of fire cleared, the last of the robot's pieces could be seem dissolving into data. "Now that's gotta hurt..."  
  
Dropping to the ground, panting heavily, Marian deformed her cards and raised her Digivice to absorb the data from the Digimon (which, she realized with some annoyance, she had fogotten to scan for cards). This time, only two cards formed: The expected Gaurdromon, and another Element changer: Laser (Laser is an element? was all she could think of that one). As she dropped to her knees to rest, Marian noticed another strangity about this world: she seemed to have all the energy she'd ever need while fighting, but she was left nearly exausted afterwards, even if the fight wasn't that tough.  
  
Shrugging it off, she climbed to her feet, continuing on towards what she assumed was the north (she wasn't quite sure if the sun was the same here, but then again, what did it matter?).  
  
Two hours later, Marian finished off the last of the strange fruit she had found growing in the forest. She had been worried, of course, that it might be poisonous, but her stomach had insisted that food poisoning was better than starvation. She was now past the metal plates, back into the straight grassland, which so far seemed uninhabited, at least to the extent that nothing was trying to kill her.  
  
Of course, her thinking that and all, she just had to be proven wrong. A quick rumbling sound was all the warning she had before something burst through the ground beneath her. Only the fastest Hyper Wing she had ever slid brought her safely out of range of a slicing, red claw. Even as she stabalized herself, the large, red, four armed insectoid Digimon flew up after her, forcing her to retreat. Grabbing her Digivice, she brought up the data: Kuwagamon. An extremely territorial insect Digimon that considers everything it sees it's territory. This one might have attacked her even if she hadn't been a "glitch", as all the other Digimon called her. It's Scissor Claws attack, while nothing fancy, just a basic melee attack, could still cut her in half easily enough. And the card data was...  
  
"Scissor Claws!" A couple quick slices of Kuwagamons claws would have been the end of her if not for the first one cutting up her wing, sending her crashing down into the ground, a very confused Kuwagamon looking back at her just long enough to run into a tree.  
  
Climbing back to her feet, Marian grabbed some cards. A quick "Digi... MODIFY!" brought her back to combat ready with shadowed robot arms at her side. By then the giant bug had climbed to it's feet and turned to face her, recieving another surprise at her changed form. Nevertheless, not being the brightest insect of all time, it clomped confidantly toward her.  
  
"Twin Beam!" Twin beam is a powerful attack. It is balanced by it's pathetic accuracy, but it is very damaging for a champion level attack. So, at point blank, the Kuwaga was totally unprepared for seven Twin Beams to the chest and arms. The blasts ripped a crack in it's armor, which widened at the giant bug fell back. Just as it would have come crashing to the ground, it dissolved into a million pieces, Marian still death-glaring at the spot where it had last stood. "Never, ever, EVER touch my wings again!" Marain had become rather fond of flight in the past day, and the thought of fighting without it was disconcertin.  
  
As the data collected from the bug, it formed, not the expected Kuwagamon card, but instead a kind of orb. Red orb was the same red as the inscects armor, with marking and indents to resemble Kuwagamon's face, arms, and feet. Marian knew she had seen something like it before, but couldn't place it. As she laid her hand on it, it glowed, changing into a strange card, which was nothing more than a picture of the egg-shaped orb, and a name: Kuwaga Armor.  
  
Shrugging, and having learnt that cards do nothing outside of battle, Marian pocketted the strange card, sent one last glare at the dead Kuwagamon's final resting place, and heading again towards the north. Or whichever direction it really was.  
  
Notes: Wow, long chapter, eh? Well, it's not nearly over yet; there is much more to do. Be sure to join us next time! 


End file.
